Necessary Trouble
by mihairu7
Summary: Kaneki scavenges bodies of both CCG and Aogiri Tree members after a battle of pure bloodshed as an act to collect supplies for a shelter he and Hide created as a sanctuary for innocent civilians. While trying to hide from scouts and killer's, he simultaneously battles the ghoul within. /rated- M for gore and violence/


**Necessary Trouble**

Burning tyres and smouldering debris crated an image of chaos in the 20th Ward, whilst the scent of putrid burning flesh and the sight of black oxygen that spilled from the confines of many explosions painted a picture of Hell. Bodies, both human and monster lay scattered around the battlefield like pieces on a chessboard. The only ironic part being that both kings of opposing sides were never there to begin with, which begged the question that if not the king, then who did these poor pawns die to protect?

These thoughts, along with depravity, desperation and hunger filled Kaneki's mind as he raced passed the aftermath with haste. These monsters would be back soon to bury their kin, though that's if they even paid their brethren that kind of gratitude, Kaneki thought, dashing under a capsized cart just before a passing scout of those monsters walked by.

_Probably checking for survivors…_

These attacks were becoming more frequent by the week whereby entire streets would be destroyed like this one only to be rebuilt again for their imminent degeneration. What exactly the CCG's plans were weren't visible to Kaneki; and motives of this supposed "King" of these monsters were just as vague. Things were heating up prematurely in Tokyo… the streets were becoming more and more unsafe for people now, and Kaneki suspected that this was only the beginning.

Slowly, said survivor slid out from under the cart and continued his journey down toward the next street before checking if the coast was clear from scouts. He had to carry on moving; the scent of corpses did nothing but bring his hunger to insatiable and he hadn't even completed his mission yet.

He was meant to find medical supplies for his friend Hide. Apparently, the recent attacks have had an impact on the general population that previously lived in these ruined buildings. Both Hide and Kaneki had created a shelter to help the people affected until the battles died down but the only problem in sheltering hundreds of innocent lives is that kindness alone didn't feed mouths. Tired, hungry and scared mouths. Kaneki had been tasked with fetching medical supplies for the shelter in case anyone was seriously injured or required medical attention. His alternative task was to scavenge the rations from the CCG corpses he found during the aftermath of each battle so that it would at least aid in sating the hunger and worry of most of the children and mothers at the shelter.

Kaneki's black hair shimmered in the sunset as he dug up another CCG soldier's body from the rubble. It was terrifying work, digging up bodies from war zones and searching each one for supplies, but since Kaneki himself wasn't a people's person that could ease the worries of the civilians at the shelter, he had to do the grunt work. Not that he minded, but digging up _corpses_ wasn't exactly what a young adult of twenty usually enjoyed doing in his free time; especially corpses half eaten or worse.

_"Mm, now doesn't he look scrumptious?" _a voice in his head echoed absentmindedly.

Kaneki blinked and looked at the dead man he had currently just dug up. He was young - near his late twenties Kaneki reckoned - with light brown hair that cropped the side of his face from view. His dark eyes were glazed over and looked as lifeless as marbles. For a moment Kaneki could imagine that those poor lifeless eyes once contained all the life in the world before coming to this bloodshed. He reached out a hand and closed the dead man's eyes, stood, and walked on. The voice in his head still didn't let up on its annoyance.

_"C'mon Kaneki," _it squealed like a little child, _"You know as well as I do that you're **starving**…"_

Kaneki continued to ignore it and walked on, keeping his route to the sidewalk and against the building walls in preparation to duck and hide in case of any scouts, or worse: reinforcements. Again, the girly voice in his head chided on:

_"Aww, are you ignoring me Kaneki? Did I say something to offend you?"_

Kaneki skirted around a fallen slab of concrete and ducked low to pass through a hole in the wall that lead to the next road. His head was beginning to hurt now from the repeated questioning. It wouldn't be long before that inane voice started nagging, or the new bad habit it had developed, screaming.

_"How long are you going to ignore me, huh? A day… two days… maybe three?" _it asked in with keen interest before starting again with its prodding,

_"Silly Kaneki, you know you can't ignore me forever… wherever you go, whatever you do… even during unconsciousness, I'll always be there… but you already know that…. Hey! Maybe I get you to talk sooner…"_

It was beginning difficult to stay focussed with that voice droning in his head. He was being stubborn, but he knew that the more he ignored it, the more unbearable it would become to concentrate or even walk for that matter. It was troublesome enough that an introvert like himself had this annoying voice in his head without his consent in the first place. He had to shut it up somehow, before he really was left vulnerable in a danger zone like this one that was beginning to crawl with more of those monsters. Kaneki was about to duck into a nearby corner of an alley when his head was filled with a shrill noise that broke his concentration and made him grip his head and shout out. He fell to his knees hard, face contorted into one of extreme pain. The noise he heard in his head was just too unbearable to handle.

_"**KANEKIIIIIIIII!**" _it sang in a voice akin to a banshee.

_"**KANEKIIIIII! KANEKIIIIII!** m**Y** s**W**e**E**t **K**e**N** k**A**n**E**k**IIIIIII**!!!!!!!!"_

Kaneki dragged himself toward the shadow of the alley and leaned up against it, hands pulling at his hair fiercely. He couldn't handle it; the pain was too much! He had to quiet it down before he lost consciousness completely. He opened his mouth to say something only to quell the words in his throat as the screaming in his head stopped abruptly.

Kaneki sighed out in relief and rested his head against the alley wall, his breath coming out in ragged pants. He knew he wouldn't be able to manage another stunt like that again should it happen whilst he was trying to evade being discovered by passing scouts.

The voice in his head giggled uncontrollably before speaking in a soft and sweeter voice,

_"Told you that I could make you speak to me faster than a day, didn't I?" _he could almost imagine a smile on its face. It made him sick that such a being derived pleasure from another's anguish.

_"Now, now, don't be angry with me Kaneki. You know that I'm only doing this to make you eat up, otherwise you might not even be able to protect that friend of yours from yourself," _Kaneki's eyes widened before he scowled angrily, _"now what was his name? was it Hid-_

"Shut up Rize!" he shouted and slammed a fist against the wall, the impact sending out spider cracks from his hand around the bricks that surrounded it.

_"Ooh, touched a nerve, did I? well at least you finally spoke to me for once. Have I mentioned how nice it is to hear that soft voice of yours filled with so much malice and rage? It's kind of sexy," _it said before falling into another spell of giggling that caused Kaneki's stomach to churn.

Rize Kamishiro. The voice that rang in his head consistently, the voice that pushed his buttons and sought to find pleasure from his screams of pain… that voice was the one that belong to _her._ He had thought her as nothing but an ordinary human like him not long ago. Human and beautiful to his grey eyes that sparkled with nothing but admiration and love for her the first time he had asked her out with shaky knees. Everything about her had made him smitten for her that day.

From her silky purple hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a midnight waterfall that glinted with amethyst, to her deep purple eyes that seemed to pull him in with a single glance his direction. Her smile had captured him with those rosy lips of hers and sparkling teeth to compliment them. Though what had stolen his heart was the fact that she read libraries of books like himself, it was almost as if God had created a woman made just for him that was confident and kind. Something he fell for right away.

Though that was until he had to survive the dark tentacles that she had produced from her lower spine that sought to pierce him and rip him apart. He thought it was a joke at first, some prank conjured up by Hide to tell him that such a woman didn't exist for him but when her eyes had changed from those beautiful pools of amethyst into a nightmare of black and red depravity, and after her hand had plunged through his stomach, rupturing his guts, Kaneki knew that it was no trick. Ms. Kamishiro was definitely one of those monsters: blood-thirsty, merciless, terrifying and no human.

He had fallen in love with one of those monsters. Those _Ghouls…_

How he had survived that day was still unclear and his memories were murky but after a week of throwing up normal food and craving human beings as main-courses, Kaneki had realised it. The proof was in the left eye of his that pulsated with inky blackness that suspended the equally eerie red-and-black sclera that signified the reason for his survival… he had been turned into the thing he feared the most: a GHOUL.

_"Well… half ghoul my little Kaneki…"_

He blinked and looked up. Had she just read his mind?

_"Of course, Kaneki! I _am_ in your head after all. How sweet of you to think of our first date again. I knew you were a keeper from the beginning!"_

Kaneki shook his head and glanced around the road from the alley corner. The sun had begun its descent. This wasn't good, how long had he been in that corner for exactly? Well right now that didn't matter, he had all the supplies he needed for the meantime, both medicinal and non-perishable. It was time he got moving anyways, Hide and the others would most likely begin to worry.

He stood up and walked back toward the hole in the wall that he had come from before and skirted around the same slab of concrete without any warning bells going off. There wasn't any immediate danger so far, but Kaneki felt a sense of unease that he hadn't felt prior to scavenging the battlefield. Was he being followed?

He shook his head abruptly. He couldn't let negativity enter his mind, he had to get these supplies back to the shelter at whatever cost it took. The people at the shelter needed him. Hide needed him. He couldn't let his friend or the innocent people that counted on him down.

With a rush in his movements, Kaneki sped off at a run. His speed was relatively faster now after his transformation from human to half-ghoul. Not only that, but his sight and hearing had increased a hundredfold. His smell was comparatively better than before but not as superior as the rest of his senses.

He felt the wind rush against his face and along his arms as he ran. His hair billowed in the wind and at times flicked against the eyepatch he wore over his left eye. During his time as a half-ghoul, his hunger had caused his ghoulish eye or 'kakugan', as they called it, to appear almost all the time when he was hungry; thus, Kaneki had come up with the idea to cover it up to avoid suspicion or worse, a CCG investigator mistaking him for a ghoul.

He was just about to turn another corner when he caught a sharp scent of something foul. Immediately his hunger intensified. It was definitely one of them, he thought as a man clad in a white suit with bleached blonde hair walked by casually, hands in his pockets. Kaneki automatically changed course for a large chunk of rubble for cover not too far from himself. He peeked up from his hiding spot at the man in the clearing.

His scent was definitely the same one he had caught before. Strong and imposing like death but the smell dank and pungent like decay. Kaneki was about to move away from the ghoul and head toward the opposite road that lead to the safe-point beyond the battlefield when the ghoul's eye's snapped towards his direction, pinning him down with his stare. To say that the half-ghoul was terrified was an understatement. His body shook, and he felt like peeing himself on the spot, the pressure from this ghoul's stare radiated killing intent.

The man clad in white was about to advance toward Kaneki's position when a call effectively broke the tension and his train of thought.

"Boss! Hey Boss!" called a second voice.

A second later, a man appeared from the rubble dressed exactly like the taller one before him with the exception that his body was lither; hair longer and slicked back, and that his eyes were red without his kakugan visible. The bigger of the two spoke after some time.

"What is it Naki?"

The man, now Naki, pointed a long finger toward the direction Kaneki had come from before replying,

"Boy's found a trail of bodies down that way. The reckon it belongs to that mad-ass investigator with the screwed up eyes."

"Hmm," the bigger of the two replied casually, "looks like we'll have to check it out, won't we?"

"Seems like it…" Naki chimed in before turning back to see more ghouls clad in similar white suits but with masks approach them. The red-eyed ghoul grinned before addressing the group.

"Listen up fella's! Boss Yamori wants us to investigate the trial of bodies we found earlier. Maybe it can lead us to that crazy-ass investigator and his mime-like partner. We owe them some punishment for messing around Aogiri Tree and Boss Yamori!"

His comrades shouted Naki's sentiments before following the bigger man, that Kaneki now discovered to be Yamori, toward the direction of the supposed bodies. Kaneki saw Yamori's face split into a wide grin from ear-to-ear before bending his index finger and breaking the knuckle with his thumb. The crack it emitted was loud and painful that it made the half-ghoul cringe.

He waited until the party had left before sighing and moving on. That had taken up too much of his time. He needed to get home and fast before he was spotted for sure this time. Kaneki backtracked his steps and moved passed the battlefield towards the debris that he had previously used for cover and the corpses he had already searched before he was in front of the borderline between battle zone and safe zone. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was finally done for the day. He could already imagine a full afternoon of being immersed in a long book. If he recalled correctly he still had the newest one by Sen Takatsuki to finish and apparently the reviews for it were off the charts.

A smile cracked his features and he took a step forward before grimacing and doubling- over in pain, his hands gripping his stomach tightly. Of course. His hunger was still a problem that he couldn't quench normally. As it had already been made clear that ghouls only found nourishment from human flesh, he was at a complete loss. He couldn't go back and just munch on a deceased human's flesh; that would be inhumane! He was still partly _human_ after all and had promised never to be like the monster's that he feared, whether he died from hunger or not. He wouldn't feed the desires of his ghoul side and allow it to overpower him. Rize already had more of an influence on him with words alone as it was. How much more powerful would she be against him should he actually _feed_ and fuel to her animalistic strength? That thought terrified him the most.

He couldn't allow her to take control of him, ever. Hide would be in danger and so would the rest of the people in that shelter. He wasn't going allow that to happen. He would resist Rize, resist his hunger. Resist his inner Ghoul…

However, before he could move again toward the busy CBD of the 20th Ward his senses caught someone nearby.

_Ghoul._

Upon instinct, Kaneki raised his arms in an X just in time to block the kick that would have taken his head from his shoulders and instead sent him flying towards a wall that cracked upon impact, stopping Kaneki's momentum and causing him to crash to the floor, groaning. He got up with a rush of adrenaline, spat and saw blood before he was forced to dodge to the left to avoid another kick, this time aiming to disembowel him.

He rolled on the floor and used his hands to push himself up and face his attacker. The man was dressed in murky brown overalls, and tall. He was clearly a ghoul, if his terrible scent and kakugan were anything to go on. Kaneki fell into a defensive position immediately. He wasn't a fighter at all, but he had still learned how defend himself with Hide as his instructor in self-defence. He just hoped it would help him hold off against an actual ghoul.

Said ghoul turned his head toward Kaneki and regarded him with curiosity.

"You're not human for sure. But you don't smell like a ghoul either," he said and scratched his cheek uncertainly, "so what the hell are you exactly, huh?"

Kaneki didn't respond. His feet remained planted in the ground, body tense and muscles flexed in preparation for another attack. The ghoul before him didn't really seem interested in his reply either, as he turned his body and extended a long, fleshy limb from his shoulder blade. The limb itself wasn't a limb at all, instead a type of pointed tentacle that protruded from the ghoul's body like a weapon. This was the natural weapon that all ghouls possessed, the Kagune.

"It doesn't matter either way… you shouldn't be messing with Aogiri in the first place!"

He rushed Kaneki with great speed, kagune outstretched like a sword ready to cleave Kaneki a new one. In an instant Kaneki dashed forward before sliding under the offensive body part and flipping his body around in time to dodge a swipe meant to claim his neck. He raised his leg against the ghoul's abdomen and kicked hard, sending his opponent back a few meters before he shifted into his defence position again.

"You don't fight that bad kid," the ghoul said and flexed his kagune casually, "but if you don't start using your own kagune you might end up a red patch on the ground." He spat and sped toward Kaneki again. This time the half-ghoul was ready for him and ducked under one of his swipes toward his weak spot. The throat. The ghoul before him panicked. This was his chance.

Kaneki balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into his opponent's Adams-apple, earning him a sickening crunch in return that caused the ghoul to choke on the air he breathed and collapse like a sack of potatoes.

Kaneki rested his hands on his knees and took in deep breaths. The fight had taken a lot out of him. He needed to get home quickly before he collapsed from fatigue. Unfortunately, before he could do so his stomach let loose a deep growl that caused the half-ghoul to shout out and gasp. The pain had escalated now from an annoying burning sensation into an unsmotherable fire. He couldn't see in front of him anymore, the pain had blocked out his senses completely.

_"Nice one…" _commented Rize nonchalantly, _"now duck."_

The advice came a second too late as Kaneki turned his body only to be struck by something he could have only described as a wall slamming into his mid-section before he was booted through the wall that broke upon impact and sent him tumbling into a dark alleyway.

Kaneki struggled for air as he tried to breathe. He lifted a weak hand to his stomach and glanced down. That attack had sliced him deep into his body that a pool of blood gushed forth from his abdomen like a warm fountain. He struggled to his feet and he felt his eyepatch fall off in the process.

_"Let me out Kaneki," _Rize said from his mind. She also knew it, he was at his wit's end now. Barely hanging on by the skin of his teeth. Besides the fact that he was almost pouring his life away from the gash in his stomach, his hunger was causing thick veins to form on his left eye and the kakugan itself had created cracked lines of inky blackness that had begun to cut into his eyelids like small incisions.

"Look what we have here boys! A half-breed!"

Kaneki's head snapped toward the voice and saw the group of ghouls equally dressed to the one he had just killed. He was outnumbered by over six of them now. His heart thumped in his chest.

_"Hurry Kaneki, don't you want to make it home to your precious Hide? You know what you have to do."_

He couldn't allow her to take control. He was too weak; his hunger had taken most of his energy and he hardly had the strength to stand. If he let her take over, he wouldn't be able to take back control.

_"I said let me_ out, **_KANEKIIIII_ **_!!!!"_

Her scream shook his body, his knees began to quake, and the depravation caused his mouth to salivate intensely.

"Aww, look at that, he's being consumed by his hunger," The group let out a hearty laugh, "let's show him just how painful ignoring that hunger can be!" The ghouls began to advance against him.

There were too many, he couldn't win like this, he was too weak. Too tired. Too _HUNGRY…_

The pounding in his head was adding to it. Rize wasn't making it easy for him but he couldn't give her control. He promised himself.

_"Let me out Kaneki! Let me out! Let me **OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! **_**LET ME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** _"_

His influence was slipping, the ghouls were coming, yet still Kaneki resisted.

_"**Let. Me. Out.**"_ She said in a dangerously low voice.

_But if I do…you'll hurt Hide_

_"I said: **Let me out!**"_

_I promised I wouldn't. I'm not like you. I'm not some monster, **I'm not a ghoul!** _

_"**LET ME OUT, KAENKI! DO IT NOW! DO IT NOW! LET ME OUT NOW KANEKI! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!**"_

_But… Hide…_

_"**NOW KANEKI!!!!!!!!**"_

Finally, Kaneki felt his consciousness slip and his inner-ghoul take over. The monster that he refused to accept as himself had come out. He had released _Rize Kamishiro_…

The other ghouls stopped short of their attack as Kaneki's head snapped up towards them, but what stopped them wasn't his attention to them. it was his left eye that emitted a red ominous glow in the dark. The killing intent from Kaneki expanded and rushed around the confined area in waves that made the ghouls hesitate in their assault.

"What…W-What the hell is going on here?" one of the ghouls asked taking a step back.

They watched as the grimace on the half-ghoul shifted into an ear-splitting grin that showed sharp teeth and a dangerous look. He let out a high-pitched cackle that made their skin crawl and regard him with different eyes as his lower spine produced four slithering, blood red tentacles that glowed with equal eeriness. Kaneki's upper body slouched forward, and he licked his lips at the six ghouls before him.

"** _Nowwww_ **," he said in a low voice and cracked his neck to the left, "** _Let's_ ****_feast_ **!" he growled, launching himself at the opposing ghouls, kagune extended and aimed toward the ghouls. That crooked smile stretching further if possible on his porcelain features into a visage of pure hunger and murder.

* * *

**Wow… 0_0**

**So this was my first time writing a Tokyo Ghoul Fanfic so please do tell me where I went wrong or right (for starters, did I make Rize OOC or was it just too little Rize?)**

**Thank you all for reading and see you in the next chapter, which I… seem to have misplaced…**

**Oh, this is meant to be a one-shot? I had no idea. My apologies for the false information...**

**What's that, I should ask people if they want me to write more stories like this one? Splendid! Please do RR **

**A book a day keeps reality away**

**A chapter today keeps potential in range**

**And a few new words a day widens your vocabulary, oh yay! (*Charlie Chaplin smile)**

**Yeah, okay I'm done now…**

**Thanks for reading everyone!**


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